Rampant Old Golds register first victory

That is more like it.

North Otago were at their rampant best when they thumped Wairarapa-Bush 69-19 to register their first Heartland Championship win on Saturday.

As if an 11-try haul was not enough, the Old Golds were dominant for 80 minutes and poured in 38 unanswered points in the first half.

Wairarapa-Bush were soft defensively and hardly had a chance to show their attack.

Greg Dyer had his best game in the gold jersey with a 24-point haul, and second five Tiki Feke was brutal yet again.

Overall, it was a massive step up for the Old Golds to get their campaign under way.

Prop Jake Greenslade scored two minutes in and Feke ran away with an intercept try.

Wingers Oli Knopp and Hayden Todd then dotted down and Feke grabbed his second.

The Old Golds had nice variation in their attack and used their set piece effectively.

Co-captain Mat Duff won a jackal turnover on the 22m and the ball fell for big No8 Kasimila Vaihu to crash over.

Wairarapa-Bush were suffocated of any ball, but once winger Charles Mataitai got his hands on it, he made no mistake.

Dyer went over in the corner to give the Old Golds a 43-5 lead at halftime.

Desperate to turn the game around, Wairarapa-Bush made a plethora of changes at halftime to no avail.

The opening kick-off failed to brush the 10m mark and North Otago made them pay.

Dyer and blindside Savenaca Rabaka both bustled over.

At a lineout on the 10m line, hooker Ryusei Kato threw the short ball to the front for halfback Jake Matthews to come storming on to and slice through.

Wairarapa-Bush scored twice but Old Golds co-captain Cameron Rowland finished the game in style.

East Coast beat Poverty Bay 23-17, South Canterbury beat neighbours Mid Canterbury 41-19, Horowhenua-Kapiti came back to beat West Coast 27-26, Thames Valley beat King Country 23-19, and Whanganui punished Buller 91-7.